Transfer alignment is the process of transmitting navigation information from an onboard navigation system of an aircraft to the onboard navigation system of a payload that is deployed from the aircraft while in flight. The navigation information typically takes the form of periodic messages that convey position, velocity and attitude as measured by the aircraft navigation system. The navigation system on the payload receives these periodic messages from the aircraft as measurement updates used to derive error statistics for calibrating its own navigation solution. A problem occurs from the fact that the onboard navigation system of the aircraft periodically needs to adjust its own navigation solution to correct for accumulated drift error. This adjustment will appear as a step change in the measurement updates received by the navigation system on the payload. If the step change is too large, the navigation system on the payload may reject the measurement update. Even if the navigation system on the payload accepts the step change measurement update, it faces the conundrum of how to account for the step change and allocate what it must interpret as a measurement error generated by one or more of its own sensors.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for systems and methods to incorporate master navigation system resets during transfer alignment.